My preparations for my first Tour de Bintan didn't go so well as I was ill for most of January 2017. I tried to make up for the loss time by doing as much riding in February as I could. I was mentally prepared that I'm going to suffer in Bintan as I heard about the undulating hills that riders will encounter throughout the ride. There are simply not many hilly areas in Singapore to train and there's so much I can do on Zwift.

Lack of training aside, I set off for Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal at around 5am, hoping to get a good parking lot (cost me $22 for parking from 530am to 8pm). Getting the boarding pass and completing the registration formalities were a breeze despite the constant flow of participants coming to the terminal. Organiser was generous this year as we were given a free T-shirt, cap and gloves. The best thing about travelling by ferry is that the bike doesn't need to be disassembled. Simply check in and it's good to go.

At 7.30am, I boarded the ferry which was almost full, with more non-Asians than Singaporeans. Although it was only a 45 minute ride, the choppy waters almost made me puked! I suspected the ferry was going faster than usual as it departed late. The weather didn't look good either with dark clouds aplenty.

Immigration was smooth and we boarded the bus to the race location which was 15 minutes away. The bus ride gave me a preview of what to expect as we went up and down the hilly roads...

We arrived at a circus junction near the start point and waited for our bikes to arrive. Unfortunately, mine was on the last truck and i ended up being the last few to reach the start point... worse, I couldn't fix my GoPro Session on my bike so no video (argh!)... not a good prep thus far. Fortunately, I managed to settle down with about 5 minutes to spare before the start of the race.

We were flagged off at 9.30am with the cheers of the local crowd and fanfare! It was a wonderful feeling.

Almost half of the 200 strong riders disappeared after the first turn (mostly non-Asians...). It started to drizzle about 10 minutes into the ride but nothing to worry about. I was going at a decent pace for the first 20km but started to feel the effects of the lack of training once the hills started to appear. I struggled a bit between 30-45km but recovered briefly from 45 to 60km where the roads were flatter. Then the hills showed itself again (and again x infinity), becoming more intimidating each time, with angles of 8-12% tearing into my legs and stamina.

At 70km, the rain poured down and I could barely see a thing with my sunglasses on. The last 5km was a torture and cramps started to set in my legs. Somehow, I managed to drag myself to the finish line without stopping, crossing at 120th place (out of 187) riders, 3 hours 27 minutes or 1 hour 10 minutes behind the winner... short of finishing below 100 place. There were 3 feed(rest) zones at 19km/35km/60km but I didn't stop at any so as to avoid losing time (which was a mistake). Anyway, I didn't feel too bad considering this is my first ride but I vowed to be better prepared and come back stronger for 2018 edition.

To cut my story short, here's a point form summary for the post-race (Bintan time - 1 hr ahead of Singapore):

1.30pm: Lunch 4.00pm: Take bus to Nirwana Gardens to shower (didn't know there were buses going hourly)4.45pm: Take bus to Ferry Terminal5.30pm: Take Ferry back to Singapore6.30pm: Reach Singapore (7.30pm SG time)8.30pm: Home Sweet Home

For those who wants to know how it feels like riding in a sportive (UCI-sanction), you know, like Tour de France (lol), then Tour de Bintan is the best place to test your cycling prowess especially for riders who want to do something harder than the OCBC Cycle. It cost me about $250 for the registration fees and transportation. More if you take up the full Tour. Overall, the event was well organised (logistics/transport) and the local crowd was welcoming and supportive. Now I'm seriously thinking of replacing my 2011 road bike but training more often would be a cheaper option for enthusiast cyclists like myself. Hoping to get my butt kicked again next year!

Went to KL over the weekend with my family and in-laws to complete my OCBC Cycle 2016 "Double" - again, using my Brompton for ease of transportation (or the lack of it).

LOGISTICSBefore I talk about the cycling event, let me touch on the challenges of travelling in a car on a 4-hour drive with 4 adults and 3 small kids. Due to space constraint, we couldn't bring too much stuff along (or shop a lot). Navigating was surprisingly easy around KL, thanks to Google Map (Offline). We stayed at Miramar Hotel (2-star) for S$100 per night (includes free breakfast). The family room that we got was quite large though the single toilet was a bit of a bummer. But the kids liked the extra space so it was all good. I won't recommend staying there if you don't have your own transport. When driving around Malaysia, get a Touch N Go card with at least RM200 to pay for highway tolls and parking (especially at shopping malls).

OCBC Cycle KL 2016 - Pre-Race (Saturday)The OCBC Cycle KL was held at Dataran Merdeka, which was just 10 minutes bicycle ride from the hotel. I found that KL is not bicycle friendly (or even wheelchair friendly). While the road quality is ok, safety isn't as the drivers are just too aggressive. The pedestrian pavements at many areas are really in poor condition. They really need to improve their maintenance regime. What's the point of having fancy infrastructures that are not working...

Back to the event, I collected my race pack on a Saturday morning. No queue but the collection area was underwhelming when compared to the Singapore version. No support/participation from local bicycle shops so I couldn't spend my Malaysian Ringgit... I just came, collect and went back to the hotel in just under an hour.

Race DayWoke up very early as all cyclists have to report at the starting point by 6am. This was the 2nd time OCBC Cycle was held in KL so the number of participants was rather low at around 1300 riders. I'm riding a Brompton so I am under the Foldable Bike category (the other two being Road and Mountain Bike). There were prizes to be won for the top 3 riders.

The route for this year's edition saw us covering 40km (3 laps of 13 km/lap). There were 2 long ascents to conquer but the rest of the route was fairly flat. I didn't race that hard as I was not familiar with the route, especially the downhill sections.

I finished at 1 hr 35 mins, coming in 20th out 133 riders in the foldable bike category. Not bad for a first timer. Would I go again next year? Probably not. I don't like riding laps around the same route. I did enjoy the uphill challenge and hope the coming Tour de Bintan would provide me more of that!

The OCBC Cycle 2016 was my first participation in a cycling event and it went great! I even got a video grab of me riding from the flag off!!!

I arrived fairly early at 6am and was glad to get near the front of about 300 riders. Once the ride started at 7am, it was simply getting passed the slower riders and picking up the pace along the first stretch of Nicoll Highway.

I was going at max FTP (32km/hr) on the Brompton upon reaching the F1 pitlane. All that training had paid off as I clocked better than my target time, at 54 minutes for the 23km Straits Time Ride.

According to Strava, I was ranked 9th out of 108 riders. Not bad for someone on a foldable bike! I even "flew" down Benjamin Sheare's Bridge at a breakneck speed of 56km/hr! Was kinda dangerous when I looked at the video...

Going down Sheare's Bridge at 56km/hr!!! That's my head... leaning forward to reduce as much drag as possible...

The route was was quite interesting but it could do with a lot less sharp u-turns... I've always wanted to ride my bike on the expressway and it was a pity that ECP section was rather short (had to turn back near Big Splash)... oh well... overall, the event was well organised and I also spent quite a lot at the Expo, picking up a new front light (Moon Comet-X) and stocking up on energy drink and bars for the next few weeks of training.

Can't wait for my first overseas cycling event in KL next month which will be even tougher!

My 4-year old Trek Alpha 2.1, hooked up to an Elite Digital Smart B+ trainer for virtual cycling on Strava

​Having rediscovered my interest in cycling in July 2016, I've started putting serious mileage on my 4-year old Trek road bike. Sadly, riding a road bike feels unsafe on our Singapore roads. While it can move relative fast at +30km/hr, it's not fast enough to keep up with traffic. Hence I would ride the Trek on low traffic areas such as Seletar Airport or the surrounding Park Connectors.

I signed up for the OCBC Cycle in October so I needed to level up my fitness quickly. Riding on my road bike for short distances (i.e. less than 20km) can be a chore as you need to look the part when riding on a road bike (like wearing cycling jersey, helmet, gloves, cycling shoes...). So I turned to virtual cycling portal, Zwift. It's been great experience as hooking up the Trek on a smart trainer allows me to cycle on somewhat real-life conditions. Buuuuut, you can't improve by just riding at home and I really wanted to ride long distance outdoors.

After a short search online, I got myself a used 1-year old 6-speed Brompton via Togoparts.sg for $1900. While I don't plan on bringing this bike on public transport, the abilty to fold up is a nice option. You can see the photo below of how I strapped the Brompton on my Yamaha Tricity with a pair of Rokr straps.

Folded Brompton on the back of Yamaha Tricity. I used two pieces of Rokr Straps.

I gave my used Brompton a full servicing after getting it from its previous owner. Also swapped the original saddle to a Brooks B17. After struggling to climb Benjamin Sheare's bridge on the default 50T chainring, I bought a smaller 44T, giving me -12% ratio at the lowest gear. Planned to change the grips to an Ergon GP1. Here's a couple of pic of my Brommie:

So how does it feel like riding on a foldable bike?

Well, this is not my first foldable bike. My 2008 Dahon Speed D7 is my first which currently resides at my workplace as an exercise bike. In terms of speed, given the same effort of riding, the Trek is naturally the fastest (averaging 25km/hr), followed by the 20" wheels of the Dahon (20km/hr) and then the 16" wheels Brompton (18km/hr).

I recently did my longest ride on a bicycle yesterday for a total distance of 75km (4hr 30min). I rode 90% on Park Connectors which was mostly a pleasant experience. There were some constructions going on which required some detour. Note to cyclists who are crossing over from Pasir Ris to Punggol, the Lorong Halus track is undergoing renovation works so have to take a long detour via main roads in order to reach the pedestrian-only bridge.

My Brooks saddle hasn't broken in yet so my butt started to ache at the 40km mark. By 50km, I started to "bonk" due to lack of carbo and electrolytes (burned 2400 calories on this ride).I was almost in tears for the last 10km... but it felt great when I reached home... Need to have a better fuelling strategy or go at a slower pace for my next long ride.

Overall, the Brompton is a great bike. I feel like riding a well-built vintage car. It is slow and heavy at 13kg but that's what it is supposed to be. To enjoy the surroundings and take life easy. If I want to go fast, there's always the Trek. But we don't live in picturesque mountains of the French alps, so I don't feel motivated to ride long distance on the Trek. I really like the front block which allows me to fix a bag carrier. Once I can cycle 100km in 5 hours without bonking, I might consider touring on the Brompton.

Been rather busy at work this past month... well, more like being stuck in meetings from 9 to 5pm almost every weekday... I'm now doing my reservist and have a bit of time to update my blog. Here's a preview of what I hope to cover in my upcoming posts:

a) Yamaha Tricity

Yes... I put aside my ego and got myself a three wheeler... after the accident, my Honda CBR150R didn't feel quite the same especially with the quality of ride. The suspension was really soft and felt squishy/bumpy/uncomfortable at higher speeds. My turning/cornering on the bike also felt sluggish but that was more due to my noob handling of a race bike.

So sometime in mid-June, I traded in the CBR and got a new Yamaha Tricity. The bike is exceptionally easy to ride in wet conditions. It's fast enough to get off the traffic lights but can only managed a max 100km/hr. In Singapore, I can keep up with traffic 99% of the time as long as I avoid Lane 1 on the expressways.

I do have some videos but will have to find time to upload later. PS: I do miss the CBR :(

b) Road Cycling

I usually turn to cycling on my road bike as a form of exercise during the Tour de France season but much so this year after getting access to the live TV coverage on BBC and ITV via StrongVPN. After Tour favourite Chris Froome won for the 3rd time, I somehow got hooked (partly also because I'm trying to lose weight). I hate running these days so cycling is a great low-impact option. My 2011 Trek 2.1 has been gathering dust since moving to Sengkang due to lack of interest. Nowadays, there are loads of tech to help the modern rider sustain their interest longer. Instead of getting another bicycle (very very tempted to get the sexy matt black Trek Emonda (Ultegra groupset) for $2600, I plowed my money on the Garmin Edge 520 (with HRM, Cadence and Speed sensors). I also upgraded my tires to the Continental GP4000s II and the Stages Power Meter. Total spent? About $1500!

I also have a Lemond Revolution trainer, which I bought last year - thinking that I could ride indoors, which I found very boring so the trainer was hardly used... until now... I had recently subscribed to the online Zwift (and Strava), an online virtual riding software (aka game). Riding an hour on a trainer with something to look at is an amazing experience! If my interest in cycling goes beyond the OCBC Cycle in October, I may upgrade to a smart trainer which provides the ride with a more realistic indoor riding experience. Ahh... if only we live in a country with rolling hills and mountain...

c) Bajaj Pulsar 200 NS

What happened to my Bajaj? Well, a little underused. As a result, I couldn't start the bike because of low battery charge. I bought the Oxford Oximiser 900 to charge the battery back to full and managed to start the bike again. I must say the charger is really good! The only problem now is that my IU Unit has got no power so can't go through ERP gantries... will have to send it for servicing next week.

My dad modified my foldable bike by adding a baby seat. I decided to give it a go so I brought Honz and Faris along to Bedok Reservoir Park at around 4pm. Although Faris seemed to enjoy the ride, I find cycling with him on a small bike was quite exhausting and awkward. I don't think I'll enjoy riding that often but I'll try nonetheless.

After the ride, we went out for dinner together with my parents at Magic Wok Downtown East. Looking forward to go to JB this weekend! Merry Chrismas to all!